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Tag: Jack Garcia

Several Rock Canyon Poets road tripped to Fruita, Colorado last weekend for poetry writing workshops and a special reading at Lithic Bookstore & Gallery.

While the poets trickled into town on Friday and Saturday, the festivities began with a workshop from Kyle Harvey of Lithic about the poetic line. With the help of some well-known poems, attendees got a different look at how some poets chose to break lines and received some advice for their own work.

Trish Hopkinson also taught a workshop on response poetry. She led people through some of the different types and styles of response poetry. At the end, the attendees had a chance to try their hand at it, and some responded to poets like Maggie Smith, W.B. Yeats, Chen Chen, Paisley Rekdal, and Sandra Beasley.

The event culminated in a reading at Lithic, which was well-attended. Aaron Gates, Bonnie Shiffler-Olsen and Dennis Clark were the featured poets. Colin Douglas, Jack Garcia, Lisa Connors, Shelby Slade and Trish Hopkinson also shared some of their poems. The reading was followed by an open mic and several audience members read.

The Rock Canyon Poets would like to thank Danny and Kyle from Lithic for hosting the event, which provided a wonderful opportunity to learn new things, interact with other poets and share our work. Danny also offered many of the visiting poets a place to stay and graciously opened his home for them.

We had a great time performing at the Utah Arts Festival last Friday afternoon. Special thanks to the poets who performed: Bonnie Shiffler-Olsen, Trish Hopkinson, Dennis Clark, Jack Garcia, Michaelle Martial, and Chris Atkin. If you missed us at the Utah Arts Fest, you can watch the entire performance as captured on Facebook live. Also below are some photos of each poet.

Rock Canyon Poets and Pioneer Book are pleased to host the second issue of a queer literary journal, peculiar, will have its official launch night at Pioneer Book on February 9th at 7:00 PM. Select contributors to the journal will read their poetry and prose, including this issue’s Featured Writer: Spencer Ballard. An open mic will follow and copies of the journal will be available to the public for purchase. Make sure to arrive early for a good seat!

A new issue of peculiar will now be published every winter and summer, different from the initial plan of spring/fall. The first issue was completed in May 2015 with funding from a small Kickstarter campaign. Volume 2, Issue 1 is 107 pages long and features a collection of poetry, short stories, art, and photography from 26 queer Utah writers and artists.

Big thanks to Karen Hoag and Spenser Heaps for the excellent story and photographs in this Daily Herald article that was published this morning about our performance at the Utah Arts Festival last night. We had a fabulous and attentive audience, but most of all we had an amazing time! Not only do we support each other as poets, but we are growing and learning together, and becoming close friends. Thanks to all who support us!